Playing well with others while scaling the tower

[glennword]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

How often did 3 robots on an alliance all hang in 2010?

That was a much simpler game (fewer things to do/less tradeoffs to make) and hanging/suspending was the single most valuable robot action, points wise. The rules on robot expansion were more lenient (84" diameter cylinder during the endgame), there were 4 sides/corners for teams to find space, and there were multiple options for hanging (vertical or horizontal bars).

I would love to see all 3 robots scale the tower regularly, but I think it will fall into the "there's a Chief Delphi post every time it happens" category of rarity.

In 2010, there weren't nearly as many teams as we have now, there were not nearly as many gearbox/motor/mechanism COTS options available, and there were not as many web based/otherwise easily accessible design and knowledge resources. FIRST is growing, and with it the average quality of teams. That's the nature, and arguably the goal, of any competition; improvement.